


Home Away From Hawkins

by looney gloomy hobbit (Stardustandbacon)



Series: trying to write in quarantine [6]
Category: Green Acres (TV), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Crossover, Family, Family Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Humor, New Town, Post-Season/Series 03, adjusting to new home, almost definitely NOT st4 compliant, do they count as ocs if they're reworked blank slates?, just-for-fun AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:33:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25117705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardustandbacon/pseuds/looney%20gloomy%20hobbit
Summary: They needed a break from all the mortal danger they had been in, Joyce thought. So, after that turbulent Fourth of July, she had decided they'd be better off living in a little town, outside of Indiana, in the middle of who-knows-where. One that wasn't even on most maps. So, she, Jonathan, Will, and her newly appointed depandant Eleven, had packed up and left the strangeness of Hawkins.They had gotten away from mortal danger, they were safe now. What they didn't expect was the benign bizzareness of Hooterville.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers & Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Jonathan Byers & Will Byers, Joyce Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Oliver Wendell Douglas/Lisa Douglas (Green Acres), Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
Series: trying to write in quarantine [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687312
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. On the Road There

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter was previously published as a standalone, titled [**On the Road There**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24375697). I will be leaving it up, as I feel it works as a standalone.

_“Darling you got to let me know,  
Should I stay or should I go?”_

“This takes me back,” said Will Byers, smiling. The mixtape he was listening to was making the long drive to the Byers’ new home more bearable.

His brother Jonathan cracked a small smile back at him, though not taking his hands off the wheel or eyes off the road. “Back to when this mess started, or before that?”

“Both,” Will replied, laughing. “Some things were better before that, and some things were better after.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “Really? You really think so? I mean, that sounds awfully optimistic, especially after what you’ve been through -” he shivered a little, thinking of all he’d seen his little brother endure. The possession was enough to give him nightmares, and he wasn’t even the one who was possessed! “- I think I might’ve been happier if, y’know, everything was still boring.”

“What are you talking about? You got a girlfriend out of this!” Will pointed out, laughing. “Sure, I was kidnapped into an alternate dimension- “

“Filled with monsters,” Jonathan interrupted. “Which have since terrorized you, the town, and blew up the mall. Nancy Wheeler’s great, but I don’t wanna just think of myself. Besides, I feel like it’s our fault Russians got the mall. Wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t investigate the lab last fall.”

“You did what you thought was right. You knew that they opened the gate in the first place, and you took em out.” Will looked at his brother. “It’s not your fault. I know you just didn’t want anyone getting hurt anymore.”

Jonathan looked at Will for a second, seeing the sincerity in his eyes shining back at him. He sighed. “Thanks,” he said, “but it doesn’t feel that easy to let go of. People got hurt, and they were going to be hurt either way.”

“Yeah, but they had El. She was just kept there her whole life, and she might never have gotten out,” Will argued, referring to the girl who, at this point, was kind of like their adopted sister. “I’m glad she’s moving with us.”

“I see your point, and I’m glad too,” Jonathan said, “but it sucks that she basically has to move. The reason, I mean.”

Both boys were quiet, thinking back to Chief Hopper. How he’d been Eleven’s adoptive father, how he’d rescued Will back in ’83, how they both knew their mom still harbored a bit of her crush from high school on the man. And they both remembered how heartbroken their mother had looked after she had returned without him. How she’d shook her head to Eleven, tears brimming in her eyes, silently communicating that no, the man the girl had come to know as her father hadn’t made it. The memorial, Eleven’s move in with them (Hopper had said that if anything happened to him, Joyce Byers had legal custody of his daughter) and their packing up and leaving Hawkins not long after. All of Will’s friends had somehow made the process both easier and more difficult. They’d provided great support and levity when he needed it, which made them all the more hard to leave.

He knew Johnathan felt that way about Nancy, too. Even Steve Harrington - former bully, former boyfriend of Nancy, and former ice cream scooper, current dad friend and video store employee - had personally stopped by and told Jonathan that he’d miss him and Will, and wished them good luck in their new home. Somewhat awkwardly, but then again, everything Steve did was couched in an air of awkwardness. Will wondered how he ever seemed like the big man at Hawkins High School.

They rode in silence for a few more minutes before Will spoke. “When are we getting there, again?”

Jonathan looked at the car’s clock, trying - and failing - to remember what time they’d left Hawkins. “Dunno exactly. I think soon though. Mom said that she wanted to make it there in one day, and if we drive much longer, we’ll be spending the night someplace. Here, get out the map and look for the exit she circled.”

Will pulled a rumpled map out of the glove box and began to scan it. “It’s funny, I would’ve thought mom would wanna get out of small towns. This place seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere.” He tilted his head towards the window, where the scenery had become steadily more rural during their drive.

“Yeah. I guess I was wrong. I thought you couldn’t get more middle-of-nowhere than Hawkins. That place is small, but I think this town is even smaller.” Jonathan laughed.

“Why are we going so far, anyway? Why not someplace like Chicago, or Indianapolis?”

“Honestly, Will, I think mom just wanted to get away from everything. The people in cities, if they knew we were from Hawkins, they’d pester us with questions. The town’s been in the news several times in the past few years, y’know.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Will replied, rolling his eyes.

Jonathan laughed again, causing Will to grin. “Sseriously, though,” Jonathan continued, “there’s so many nosy neighbors we’d have to deal with in the city. Mom didn’t want any of us to have to deal with that. Especially Eleven.”

“That’s good.” Cities were loud, anyway, and big. You could get lost in one if you didn’t pay attention, and you could run into gangs. Will doubted that he would’ve run into a gang wherever they’d moved, but still, cities were unfamiliar territory. Overwhelming, for both him _and_ Eleven. Maybe it was better they were moving to a tiny town that was composed of mostly farmland.

Before he was totally sucked into daydreams, Will noticed the road sign. “Oh, get off at the next exit, by the way.”

“Thanks,” replied Jonathan, putting on his turn signal and preparing to change lanes.

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“It’s an old white farmhouse. Its big enough for you to have your own room, if you want,” Joyce Byers kept looking at the girl next to her as she drove, trying to gauge her reaction. She knew her boys well enough to know they would be fine, or that they would at least be fine enough to not warrant her coaxing and constant checking to see how they were adjusting. But Eleven was a wild card. A sweet girl who’d had a hard life that took a turn for the better, but that had been crumpled and ripped apart before her eyes. Joyce felt for her and wanted to make this move as easy as possible on Eleven, so as not to make her hurt any more than she already was hurting.

Sitting next to her in the U-Haul, Eleven kept her expression neutral, yet attentive and intrigued. She didn’t know what to think, so instead she listened. She was already missing Mike and Lucas and Dustin and Max and everyone else, she was grateful that she had the Byerses to rely on for support. If she didn’t have the whole party with her, she did have Will, and Jonathan was now acting as an older brother to both of them. And Joyce was sweet, gentle, caring, and attentive; like the mother she should’ve had but never did.

Mother. She briefly felt sick to her stomach, remembering her mama and Becky, back in Indiana. Joyce had told them that she was moving out of state, and gotten their address, so Eleven could write to them whatever she wanted to. Still, she felt bad, moving so far away from them.

El shook her head, clearing the thoughts away, as Joyce began to speak again. “It’s a small town,” she said, “even smaller than Hawkins. There’s not really a downtown, just a couple shops, and a bunch of farms and fields.” Joyce momentarily turned her head to Eleven. “Have you ever been on a farm?”

“Not really. I’ve just seen the farms around Hawkins when I was out with my friends.”

Smiling a little, Joyce continued, “Well, now you’ll be able to see some up close. I’ll show you around if you want. Me, you, Will, and Jonathan, we can go exploring a little once we unpack a bit.”

El gave Joyce a small, grateful smile. “Thank you.”

Joyce looked Eleven in the eyes, taking on a serious tone. “El, I just want you to know, I-I want this to be as easy as possible for you. And – just – if you have any problems, or you just want someone to talk to, even, just…let me know, okay? You can come to me for anything.”

Touched, El smiled again. “Thank you, Joyce. I…I will.”

The two exchanged another look, and for one moment, their troubles were lessened, and their moving jitters were calmed. It seems, even if just for a moment, that everything might be okay.

The trance was broken when Joyce spoke. “Oh! Here we are, the city limits. Our house is about five minutes from the edge of town, so we’re almost there.”

Eleven nodded and stretched her arms as they passed the sign welcoming them and the boys in the car behind to their new home:

**“WELCOME TO HOOTERVILLE”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after almost a month of having a broken laptop, i am back!!!  
> a few notes:  
> \- this story is nowhere near complete. I have another chapter ready to publish, but other than that, I'll publish as I get them done.  
> \- I have a little bit of a plan for this story, but it's nowhere close to anything as grand, action-oriented, or connected as ST is.  
> \- for that matter, there's going to be little-to-no ST-esque sci-fi in this. sorry.  
> uhhhhh thats all i got for now. byeeeee  
> find me on [tumblr](http://lunarhobbits.tumblr.com/) ♡


	2. Neighborly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Byers family sees their new house, and meet a few of the town's residents.

Eleven looked at the house. It was big, white, and old. The boys pulled up in their car, and she turned around to greet them.

“What took you so long?” Joyce jokingly asked her sons. “We’ve been here five whole minutes already, slowpokes.”

Jonathan smiled at his mother and began to take boxes out of the trunk of the car. Will walked to meet them and studied the house. “So, this is our new place?”

“Yep.”

He turned to El. “What do you think?”

She shrugged. “It’s…nice.” So far, she didn’t really have much of an opinion.

Turning to his mom, Will asked, “Could we go check out the inside?”

“Sure! Just grab some boxes and bags, and I'll unlock it for you.” Joyce fished the keys out of her purse and walked onto the porch to unlock the front door.

Will took Eleven’s hand and pulled her towards the car. “C’mon. Grab your stuff, and then let’s explore.”

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“Whoa,” said Will, as they ascended the staircase to the second floor. “I’ve never lived in a two-story house before. It’ll be kinda cool, being on the second floor. Feels like you get more privacy.”

El nodded, looking out the hallway’s window. “Yeah.” The window overlooked the backyard, or what could at least be loosely defined as a backyard. There was grass, like a normal lawn, for a little ways out from the back of the house, and then it turned into a large field of weeds and wildflowers. Beyond the unkempt field were more fields - only these were obviously tended to, and had corn, tomatoes, and other plants growing there. Eleven figured they must belong to the neighbors. They had passed a few widely spaced apart houses on their way in, and she could see a one-story house and a barn from one side of the window.

Will, meanwhile, was looking in the rooms. There was a bathroom, a linen closet, what he assumed was a master bedroom (as it had its own attached bathroom), and three equally-sized rooms. Each room (with the exception of the linen closet) had old, patterned wallpaper. He motioned for El to come over to where he was. “Which room do you want? We should probably let mom have the big one.”

Looking into both rooms at the front of the house for a moment, El stepped into one with light blue walls and put a box down. “This one.”

“Cool. I’ll take the other one. Hey, Jonathan,” Will called out to his brother, who was carrying several boxes upstairs, “Is it okay with you if El and I take these two rooms?”

Jonathan swerved under the boxes’ weight. “It doesn’t matter to me. Whatever you guys want, okay? But _please_ go get some stuff from the van. The sooner we unload the sooner we can eat, and I’m starved.”

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The sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon when the four had finished unloading everything into the house, not bothering to actually unpack anything until after they had something to eat. Luckily, the boys had spotted a small diner on their way into Hooterville, so they were now seated in a booth, munching on hamburgers and French fries.

Joyce put her burger down and addressed the three teenagers. “So, what did you think of the house?”

“It’s nice, mom,” replied Jonathan, waiting for Will to finish chewing.

“Pretty,” El chirped, tentatively holding a French fry just above her plate.

“El and I picked out our rooms already. They’re at the front of the house, so you can have the big one, and Jonathan can take the one across the hall.”

Joyce smiled in relief. “That sounds perfect, Will. Thank you,” She reached across the table to ruffle his hair.

At that moment, the waitress - a smiling, teenaged redhead - returned with the check. “Here’s the check – I hope you don’t mind me eavesdropping, but I didn’t recognize you, and I heard you’re moving in.” She maneuvered her tray under her arm and stuck out her hand for the four of them to shake. “I’m Kathy. My family owns an old Victorian railway hotel about 25 miles from here. You’re welcome there any time.” She blushed a little. “I know you’ve got no need for a hotel, since you’ve just moved in and all, but my mom says I should advertise the family business more now that I’m working here.”

Joyce shook her hand. “Thank you, Kathy, that’s a very nice offer. I’m Joyce Byers.” She gestured to the two kids. “This is El, and these are my boys, Will and Jonathan.”

“Hi,” El smiled.

“Nice to meet you,” said Will.

“Hey,” said Jonathan, nodding.

Kathy smiled again. “Hey. Are you guys in high school? I’m gonna be a junior at Hooterville high, once school starts up again.”

“Yeah, I’ll be a senior,” he replied. “Will’s gonna be a freshman.”

Will playfully wrinkled his nose at the mention of school.

Kathy either hadn’t noticed that nothing had been said about El’s schooling, or didn’t care. She snapped her fingers. “Drat. I was hoping we’d be in the same homeroom or something, since my last name’s Elliot, which isn’t too far from the ‘B’s. Still, I’ll probably see you around school!”

“Yeah, probably,” said Jonathan, feeling a little awkward at this girl’s attempt to make him feel at home in school before classes had even started. _Honestly,_ he thought, _I’d rather just blend in with the crowd._

Sensing her son’s discomfort, Joyce intervened. “Well, it was very nice meeting you, Kathy. And that’s a very kind invitation about the hotel-”

“It’s called The Shady Rest. Corny name, I know.” Kathy then seemed to realize Joyce had been in the middle of a sentence and blushed slightly. “Sorry for interrupting.”

Nodding, Joyce continued. “Right. Anyway, we better get back to the house to unpack.”

“Oh, right. It was nice to meet you all. See you around.” She smiled once more, turned, and disappeared into the back of the diner.

Joyce looked at the teens. “I guess that’s our cue to go. You kids can go out to the car while I pay if you want. I’ll put your leftovers in bags.”

El and Will filed out to the car, discussing some book Will had read a while ago. Jonathan helped his mom gather their remaining food, volunteering to take it out to the car with him. As he stepped into the dusky light he looked around, taking in the fields and sprawling sky around him. When he turned to walk to the car, he saw Kathy taking a bag of trash out to the dumpster.

She spotted him and jogged over. “Hey! I forgot to ask you, uh, Jonathan, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, so Jonathan, where exactly did you guys move into?”

Not being able to recall the address, he gave her a description. Her eyes lit up in recognition.

“Oh! That’s near the Douglas farm! Nice area, interesting neighbors -”

“Interesting?”

She seemed to realize the connotations. “Oh, not the bad kind of interesting. The Dawsons live around there – they have a bunch of kids. Mr. Dawson is nice enough, just kinda weird. My mom says she went on a date with him one time, back in the sixties, and he was just as goofy back then. He works for the Douglases, who own the farm nearest to you. xThey’re nice, the Douglases – they’re this older couple who used to live in New York a long time ago. Mister Douglas is kind of grouchy, but everyone likes him anyway. And Mrs. Douglas is super sweet, people like her even more.” She smiled. “You guys will like living here, I know it!”

And with that, Kathy turned around, waving over her shoulder, and left Jonathan there, having barely registered all the information she’d dropped on him. Especially the last bit. _You guys will like living here, I know it!_

As she went back into the restaurant, he wondered if she was right.

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When they got back to the house, several figures were standing on their lawn, examining the house and U-Haul. At the sound of the car approaching, the figures turned, allowing Joyce, Jonathan, Will, and El to see them better. There was a tall brown-haired man, a boy, and two girls. The children all had the same color hair as the man.

 _Must be the neighbors,_ Joyce thought, as she parked the car on the side of the house. They all got out and walked towards the group: first Joyce, then her older son, then the two younger teens behind, as if trying to shield each other from any potential threat the unfamiliar people may have held.

Before Joyce could address the man, he spoke. “Howdy!” he started, loudly, his thick southern accent almost tangible in the evening air. “Are you all the people who are movin’ into this place?”

Joyce gave him a polite smile. “Yes, we are. You must be our new neighbors. I’m Joyce Byers, and this is Jonathan, Will, and El,” she replied, motioning to the teens behind her and extending her hand to the man.

He shook it enthusiastically. “Eb Dawson. Glad to meet ya,” he said, tipping his green cap to the teens. “You guys look a little older than my oldest kid here,” he motioned to the boy who was with him. “C’mon Jeb, say hello!”

“Hello,” said the boy – presumably Jeb. He was incredibly dour-looking, and the way he stood made it seem to Joyce that he would rather be anywhere else than greeting new people.

“Jeb’s twelve,” continued Mr. Dawson, who didn’t seem to notice his son’s foul mood, “and this is Lil – she’s 10 – and Molly, who’s 8.”

Lil and Molly both said hi, shyly smiling, Lil looking down and Molly half-ducking behind her father.

“Guess they’re all a bit younger than you fellers,” continued Mr. Dawson, “but I’m sure you’ll find something to talk about.”

“Okay, dad,” Jeb muttered darkly, as though he would rather slam the door on anyone who knocked on it. Joyce thought she saw him roll his eyes.

Again, Mr. Dawson didn’t acknowledge the moodiness his son was radiating. “How old are y’all, anyway?”

“Fourteen,” Will politely replied.

“I’m fourteen, too,” said El.

“I’m seventeen, going into my senior year of high school,” said Jonathan.

Mr. Dawson let out a long, slow whistle. “Dog- _gone_ ,” he said, addressing Joyce again. “Three teenagers. Glad mine are all still young.”

A few beats of silence passed. “Do you have any more children, Mr. Dawson?” asked Joyce, somewhat awkwardly.

Mr. Dawson beamed. “Aw, just call me Eb, none o’ that ‘mister’, stuff. And boy, I sure do! The wife 'n I got six – youngest is just two weeks old.”

Joyce smiled. “Oh, congratulations!” She motioned to Jonathan to go back to the house if he wanted.

He started up the steps, Will and El hanging back to watch the exchange. Jeb was still unpleasantly standing there, the girls were whispering quietly, and Eb showed no signs that he was going to stop this conversation.

“Thank you! He’s our fourth boy, named ‘em Teddy. Ain't that a nice name? Fran – my wife – named ‘im.” Eb ticked off his kids on his fingers. “’Sides Teddy, next youngest is Davy, then Benji, and you’ve met Molly, Lisa – that’s what Lil’s short for – ‘n Jeb.”

He prattled on about his children, who were sizing up Will and El curiously.

Joyce was prepared to politely nod along for at least ten more minutes when, thankfully, a voice was heard from the neighboring field. “Eb! It’s getting late – the kids should be back in by now!”

“Doggone! I forgot. They’ll be right there, Frances!” Eb called back. He turned to the kids. “Y'all go back in with your mom, okay?” The older girl (Lil?) nodded, and the children began to head back towards the direction the voice had come from. Eb he turned back to the conversation. “Well - Joyce, ain’t it? - d’you need any help unpackin’?”

“Oh, thank you for the offer, but we’re fine. We've got pretty much everything in the house already. It was very nice meeting you, Mr. – uh, Eb.”

Joyce was floundering, but Eb didn’t seem to take notice, turning and waving to the Byers family as he jogged to catch up with his own kids.

Joyce let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. The man was friendly, but slightly strange. She shook out the tension in her shoulders, then followed Will and El back into their new house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY some CHARATER INTERACTION smhhhh  
> anyway:  
> \- okay technically the first crossover charater is from petticoat junction. which is also a show i haven't watched. im sorry thats just the way the story went. i'll try not to make any glaring petticoat junction errors.  
> \- does kathy count as an oc? probably not, but she doesn't have a personality, as she's a literal one year old when the show ends, so im working with basically nothing here idk  
> \- oh that goes double for eb's family. im taking some basic ideas from the terrible reunion movie but that's terrible so im changing them. none of his kids got names anyway exept jeb, whose name im keeping bc its so dumb
> 
> uhhhhhhh anyways share your thougts/questions if you want. im happy to talk about this story/au to pretty much anyone. anyways see ya space cowboyes.....  
> find me on [tumblr](http://lunarhobbits.tumblr.com/) ♡


	3. Takes Me Back

_At least the water works_ , Will thought, as he brushed his teeth by flashlight. By the time they had finished setting up everyone’s bedframes so they would have proper places to sleep, it had been dark, and his mom had informed them that their electricity would not be turned on until at least tomorrow, and that would be if they were lucky and she could call the company when she was at work the next day.

Their phone, an old-fashioned, wooden, wall-mounted thing with an earpiece, was in the kitchen. El had eyed it curiously, not recognizing the device at _all_ , though who could blame her? Will only knew what it was because he, Mike, and Lucas had once been bored enough to page though the library’s encyclopedias on a hot summer afternoon years ago. The building had seemingly been the only one in Hawkins with working air conditioning that wasn’t also occupied by Mike’s crying baby sister, Lucas’s pesky little sister, Will’s arguing parents, or people who expected them to buy something. To keep themselves occupied, they had tried to see who could meet the others’ places fastest: Lucas starting at the beginning of the alphabet, Will at the end, and Mike at the middle. The three had skimmed through the volumes, with the occasional entry catching their eye. Will had been on _Telephone_ in the “T” volume when Lucas had announced he had caught up with Mike. Mike, in turn, had complained that that wasn’t fair, because “ _you guys only have to read one way and I have to keep switching!_ ”. Then Lucas had pointed out that Mike had _chosen_ to start in the middle, which he got defensive about.

_“Only because you had already taken the front end!” said Mike._

_“Wasn’t it your idea to start reading these, Lucas?” said Will, his fingers drifting over a page illustrating different phone models throughout history._

_“Yeah, but didn’t you suggest making it a contest?” Lucas replied. “I was doing you guys a favor. Do you know how many more words start with A or E than with M or X?”_

_“I saw you flipping multiple pages at once!” Mike pointed an accusatory finger at Lucas._

_“So were you! And so was Will!”_

_“I was not!” replied Will and Mike at the same time._

_“We all were!”_

_“Oh yeah?” Mike stood up and looked at Lucas._

_“Yeah!”_

_“Guys, SSHHH!” Will said, glancing in the direction of the front desk and seeing an annoyed librarian. Mike and Lucas continued to yell, not hearing him._

At that moment, Dustin had strolled in, back from the dentist and oblivious to the scene he had walked into. The verbal explosion that followed had gotten them all banned from the library for the rest of the summer.

It wasn’t their finest moment, but looking back on it made Will ache for his friends. He spat toothpaste into the sink and rinsed his mouth out. Splashing cool water on his face, he heard the sounds of a radio – music, static, then music again – coming from another room.

Stepping out, he realized it was Jonathan’s portible transistor radio. Walking over to the room that now belonged to his older brother, he recognized the tune that that the current station was playing – a John Denver song. Suddenly, Johnathan seemed to realize his brother was there and turned towards Will.

“Uh…bathroom’s free.”

A smile. “Thanks.” He grabbed the pajamas he’d scavenged out of a suitcase earlier and moved past Will, headed to the bathroom. “You can change the station if you want.”

Instead of doing so, Will made his way to Jonathan’s window. He looked into the area behind the house, out to the fields and farmhouse, the barn and the numerous stars. He wondered if anyone back in Hawkins was looking at the stars right at that moment. He wondered if they were thinking of him when they did.

He wondered if his friends missed him right now as badly as he missed them.

Sighing, he leaned on the windowsill, letting the song’s words swirl around him.

In the blue-wallpapered room, Eleven was lying in bed, clutching a stuffed animal and thinking many of the same things. The house was nice, the people seemed nice so far, and she was safe with Joyce here for her. Not to mention the boys. But she wished that she wasn’t so far from all the other members of the Party, wished that she could see them and feel their support.

Eventually, she began to drift off, letting the faint music lull her into a peaceful sleep.

_Take me home,_

_Country roads._

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The next morning’s breakfast was cereal – unfortunately completely dry, as they didn’t have a fridge that could keep the milk cold yet, and wouldn’t until their electricity was turned on. After digging through the boxes marked “KITCHEN” for a spoon and finding none, Will resolved himself to eating cornflakes with his hands. When Jonathan came downstairs and into the kitchen he found him at the table, doing just that.

“Why are you-”

“Couldn’t find a spoon,” Will interrupted, shoveling a handful of cornflakes from the bowl to his mouth.

“Ah.” Jonathan pulled a bowl out of a box and began digging for a spoon himself.

While he was doing that, Eleven walked in. “Morning guys.”

“Morning,” they chorused.

“You want some?” Will shook the cereal box. “There are some bowls over there. We can’t find the spoons, though.”

El nodded. Grabbing a bowl, she sat next to Will and poured herself some cornflakes. “Wish the toaster was working,” she said, “I’d like some Eggos about now.”

“Yeah,” replied Will. They sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “Hey, mom starts her new job today. We can ask her if they sell Eggos there. That way, once we get power, we’ll know exactly where to buy them.”

“Or, you can look for them in the store yourself,” said another voice. Joyce walked into the kitchen and spied Jonathan. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for spoons,” he replied. Joyce walked over to a box he hadn’t touched yet and, after rummaging around for a few seconds, pulled out four spoons.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“No problem, sweetheart.” Joyce walked over to the sink and filled up a glass of water, then took a drink.

“When can we do that?” asked El. “Look in the store, I mean.”

“Well,” Joyce began, joining the kids at the table, “Since I start today, I figured that you could drop me off there, Jonathan. El, Will, you two can come with us. That way you guys can see some more of Hooterville while I’m working.

She looked at them all before continuing. “Besides, it wouldn’t hurt for you all to know where exactly I’m working. That way you’ll know where to reach me in case of emergency.”

Thinking back to the previous Halloween, she shivered internally. No, she thought, that won’t be happening here. I won’t let it happen here. The kids will be safe. This was just…contingency plans. Besides, there were other reasons her kids might want to reach her, right?

Jonathan interrupted her train of thought. “What’s the name of this place, again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter this time! don't worry, there's another one coming soon, I just need to finish it. sorry for the cliffhanger. i'm sure that with a little thinking, you can figure out where she's working. after all, there's only so many buisnesses in hooterville ;)


End file.
